Happy hours are brilliantly carnivalesque. A weekly Feast of Fools. Bakhtin’s Medieval spectacle in modernity is still dripping in free interaction, misalliances, eccentric behaviors, and the sacrilegious. I am all about rocking the disparate episodes of La Dolce Vita with friends. Back in my 20s on the Long Island, I prepared for the stage all …

Spontaneous adventures are a unique delight, especially those that are enjoyed in the company of two powerful women who I have the honor of calling my friends. Yesterday’s start of summer folly was idealistically marked at the last minute by the glorious smell of blooming lavender in the gardens of Monticello and by hiking the …

There is one thing that I give Richmond major props for. The South of The James Farmer’s Market is top notch and my favorite weekly adventure. Far from being a fair weather fan, I ride my bike to this market when it is below freezing in January to buy sweet potatoes and granola. With that …

Some of my earliest childhood memories are of my Italian grandmother stirring a molten pot of dark red sauce with a big old worn wooden spoon while simultaneously threatening to throw some wayward household item, that she had labeled as being “disgraziad” (a disgrace), in the alley. Do not pass go, do not collect …

J.R.R. Tolkien struck a deep cord in so many when he wrote, “not all who wander are lost”. These words have been so impactful that they continue to grace everything from bumper stickers to purses. In effect, they empower those with wanderlust and seekers of all varieties. I gave a conference paper at University College …

The many volumes of one’s life story seem to demand proper titles. I have spent the last 15 years of my life crafting experiences around “The Civic Virtue of Women in Quattrocento Florence”. In that volume I moved from student, to Ph.D., to history professor. Now I am embarking on a new journey. You probably …